AASU on 10-hour hunger strike over failed delimitation process in Assam

Representatives of the All Assam Students Union (AASU) are taking part in a ten-hour-long hunger strike today in protest against the delimitation process in the state.

By Peter Alex Todd

Guwahati, May 8 : Representatives of the All Assam Students Union (AASU) are taking part in a ten-hour-long hunger strike today in protest against the delimitation process in the state.

The protest is being undertaken to remind Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh of his promise that the delimitation process would only be carried out after updating the National Citizens Register (NRC). Dr. Singh is expected to file his renomination for the Rajya Sabha seat from Assam today.

"The delimitation process is a Constitutional provision, and there is no wrong in it, but the fact is that there are countless illegal Bangladeshis living all over the state. So, without updating the NRC, this process will go against the interest of the indigenious people of the state," claimed AASU President Sankar Prasad Rai.

Rai further said that now things appeared to be going in an opposite direction.

As per the eighty-fourth and eighty-seventh Amendments to the Constitution (2001 and 2003), Articles 81, 82, 170, 330 and 332 have been amended. The cumulative effect of these amendments to the Constitution is that -

(i) The total number of existing seats as allocated to various States in the House of the People on the basis of 1971 census shall remain unaltered till the first census to be taken after the year 2026;

(ii) The total number of existing seats in the Legislative Assemblies of all States as fixed on the basis of 1971 census shall also remain unaltered till the first census to be taken after the year 2026;

(iii) The number of seats to be reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the House of the People and State Legislative Assemblies shall be re-worked out on the basis of 2001 census;

(iv) Each State shall be redelimited into territorial parliamentary and assembly constituencies on the basis of 2001 census and the extent of such constituencies as delimited now shall remain frozen till the first census to be taken after the year 2026; and it does not include the State of Jammu and Kashmir, but includes the National Capital Territory of Delhi and Union Territory of Pondicherry.

(v) The constituencies shall be so re-delimited that population (on the basis of 2001 census) of each parliamentary and assembly constituency in a State shall, so far as practicable, be the same throughout the State.

The Delimitation Commission has been functioning since July 4, 2002.

All constituencies shall, as far as practicable, be geographically compact areas, and in delimiting them, shall be had to the physical features, existing boundaries of administrative units, facilities of communication and public convenience.

As far as population is concerned, the delimitation process shall include

(i) All assembly and parliamentary constituencies are to be delimited on the basis of the 2001 Census. The census figures of 2001 as published by the Census Commissioner are thus alone to be taken into account for this purpose.

(ii) Each constituency in a State shall be so delimited that the population of all constituencies shall, so far as practicable, be the same throughout the State.

(iii) For this purpose, the total population of the State (2001 Census) shall be divided by the total number of assembly constituencies in the State and the State average per assembly constituency shall thus be obtained. This State average shall be the guiding factor for delimiting the constituencies in such a manner that each constituency, so far as practicable, has an equal population.

(iv) The Delimitation Commission has, however, taken an internal decision that as constituencies cannot be delimited having exactly equal population in all cases, a deviation to the extent of 10 percent plus or minus from the State/district average would be acceptable to the Commission, if the geographical features, means of communication, public convenience, contiguity of the areas and necessity to avoid breaking of administrative units so demand.

(v) Though the population to be taken into account is the population of 2001 Census, the Commission has decided that constituencies shall be delimited having regard to the administrative units, i.e., district/sub divisions/ tehsils/patwar circles, panchayat samitis/panchayats, etc., as in existence on 15th February, 2004.

ANI